Nighttime Attraction
by MadHope
Summary: One-shot. Orihime is having nightmares, so Ulquiorra is assigned to stay with her the night to try to comfort her. How will that work out? An imprisoned girl and an unfeeling, stoic Arrancar. Or it he? Enjoy!


Ulquiorra Schiffer sat among the arrancar silently as they waited for their leader Aizen to arrive. They all sat at a long table, each doing different things. Szayel was muttering to himself about some sort of elixir that had gone wrong in his experimenting while beside him, Stark lay back, asleep. Yammy was laughing at something Lolly said, and the others just continued to talk. Grimmjow occasionally threw him a glare, which he promptly ignored.

Just then the door opened and Aizen entered, followed by Gin and Tousen. The calm ruler smiled as he took a seat at the head of the table, and the other two stood dutifully on either side of him. The room fell silent as all Arrancar turned to him.

"Welcome," he greeted, "I apologize for bringing you back out here, but I have some matters to discuss with you. But first, Ulquiorra?"

"Yes, Lord Aizen?" A small smile was placed on the leader's lips as he responded.

"You are the one in charge of the human girl, Orihime Inoue," he responded, his smile widening, "But it seems she is not in good emotional health at the moment. We want her mind as useful as it was when she came in here, but it seems she has been having nightmares. I would like it if you would stay with her tonight and try to comfort her. Within reason, of course." A few snickers sounded in the room and Grimmjow simply laughed out loud.

"Ulquiorra?" he laughed, shaking his head, "he wouldn't know how to comfort someone it his life depended on it! He'll probably make the girl have even worse nightmares than before!" Ulquiorra regarded him with a cool, blank expression but remained silent.

"It is true though," Szayel cut in, "Ulquiorra would probably end up killing himself or her if he tried to comfort her!" This gained a couple more laughs, and Aizen's smile spread. He then turned toward Ulquiorra.

"Well go on, Ulquiorra," he told him, "Go and try to calm Orihime. She should be trying to get to sleep right about now. The rest of you may go, it is late and I will discuss what I wanted to inform you about later." Ulquiorra was the first out of the hall and started walking down the white halls of Las Noches. He didn't even flinch as another Arrancar appeared in front of him, having used Sonido. Nnoitra smirked at him.

"So, you get to spend a night with the Hueco Mundo princess," he said lightly, though Ulquiorra easily saw through him. Ulquiorra continued walking, passing Nnoitra as if he wasn't there. This was useless, though, since Nnoitra once again appeared in front of him. Ulquiorra finally stopped and watched the other Arrancar quietly. Nnoitra chuckled.

"You comforting the human pet… hmm, I wonder what will become of that? Of course you might be able to learn something about women, after all that human does look delicious…"

"Your vulgar thoughts matter nothing to me," Ulquiorra interrupted calmly, not moving an inch in his body or face, "I must attend to what Lord Aizen has asked of me. I do not have time for you, trash." With that Ulquiorra walked past him, and Nnoitra did not bother him again. Soon Ulquiorra found himself in front of the door that led to the woman's room. He placed two small knocks on the door before entering. The room was dark other than the moon's light shining in from the tall window on the far walk, spilling milky white color onto the floor and bed.

Ulquiorra closed the door behind him and observed the sight before him. The woman known as Orihime lay on her bed with her head turned to the side and the blanket only covering the lower half of the body. Her cheeks were flushed red and her eyes scrunched together in her sleep. He walked a little bit closer just as the woman started murmuring something in her sleep.

"Please…. No," she mumbled, tossing her head so it was facing him. Ulquiorra now saw a single tear track down the side of her left cheek.

"Don't…. don't hurt them…. Please…." Ulquiorra reached out a pale hand and lightly placed his slender fingers on the woman's forehead.

"Hm," he let out. It seemed she had a small fever. After a moment he slipped his hand back into his pocket and spoke.

"Woman." The response was immediate. Orihime's eyes fluttered open and she gasped at the sight of Ulquiorra standing over her.

"U-Ulquiorra!" He ignored her surprise and his face remained passive.

"You were having a nightmare, woman," he told her, "Lord Aizen is concerned with your mental well-being." Orihime sat up in her bed, gazing around as she tried to shake away the images of her dream. It was silent and Ulquiorra remained watching her, feeling a peak of interest tug at him.

"What were you dreaming about, woman?" Orihime looked up at him in surprise. Was he actually concerned about her? Ulquiorra's blank face did not waver at her shock.

"Stop your gawking," he ordered, "If I am to try to help you I must know the problem." Orihime sighed. Of course, Ulquiorra wouldn't care for anyone. But why did it make her so sad and… disappointed?

"My friends," she started quietly, not really wanting to remember, "M-My friends were being… t-tortured… they w-were dying, and i-it was all my fault…" Orihime felt the hot tears slip down her cheeks again and let out a choked sob. Ulquiorra watched the woman furiously wipe her tears but to no avail. More and more continued to come, and Ulquiorra simply watched. Finally, when she had calmed down a bit though she was still crying, he spoke.

"I do not understand you, human," he told her, "Why do you cry over such a silly nightmare, especially one that did not involve you being injured or killed?" Orihime looked surprised again.

"Of course I'm crying," she said, sniffling as she wiped another tear only to have it replaced by another, "My friends are very important to me, and I would never want anything to happen to them. It doesn't have to be about me to make me sad." The corner of Ulquiorra's mouth pulled down a bit into even more of a frown than he usually wore.

"I still do not understand, woman." Orihime sighed and wiped away another tear. They seemed to be drying by now, though her eyes were red and puffy. She fidgeted with the sleeves of her dress, trying to sort out her words.

"Well… I love my friends," she said, shrugging, "It's as simple as that. They're always there for me, and all of them always seem to know what to do to get me to laugh. Tatsuki, Chad, Uryu, Rukia, Ichigo… all of them. I feel like they're my family, and I want to protect them. It would hurt me more to see them get hurt than for me to get hurt." Orihime met Ulquiorra's gaze to see his blank face. She sighed again.

"You don't get it, do you?"

"No." Orihime stared at him again. Ever since she had met him, Orihime had found something intriguing about the Arrancar's eyes. They were a brilliant, beautiful deep green, the most beautiful eyes Orihime had ever seen. But what really caught her attention was the deep, horrible sadness embedded in them beneath his stoic, cold personality.

"Haven't you ever loved anyone, Ulquiorra?" she asked quietly. Ulquiorra's gaze didn't falter.

"No," he responded coldly, "I do not believe in such insignificant human emotions." Orihime gazed at him a moment before standing.

"Are you sure, Ulquiorra?" she asked, "Haven't you ever felt anything? Anything in your heart?" In response Ulquiorra began to unzip his jacket. Orihime's face automatically flushed, but as he pulled back the left side she saw what he was trying to show her; his hollow hole. Orihime's eyes widened. She had only seen a hollow hole from afar, and she had a sudden urge to touch it. Hesitantly, Orihime put out her hand and ran her fingers along the edge of the hollow hole.

Orihime was surprised once her fingers brushed against Ulquiorra's skin. It was cold like him, though slightly warmer than she had expected. Orihime's fingers continued to circle around the hollow hole where his heart was supposed to be, trying to ignore how strong his chest was and the blush on her cheeks.

"That is enough, woman." Orihime jumped back and snatched her hand away, her face flushing as Ulquiorra zipped up his jacket once again.

"Just because you don't physically have a heart, that doesn't mean you can't feel," Orihime told him.

"Yes it does," he deadpanned, "I do not have a heart, thus I do not believe in feelings that are supposed to come with it." Orihime shook her head and was about to protest when something caught her eye. It was the two green lines that went from the bottom of each eye and down to his jaw. Orihime couldn't help but think they looked like tears, and Orihime hated it when people were sad.

"Ulquiorra," she said softly, "Why does it always look like you're crying?" He did not respond and Orihime lifted her hand to brush her fingers against his cheek and over the lines. They felt just as the other parts of his skin did, and Orihime's fingers followed the line down to his jaw. Once they went back up they accidentally brushed against his dark black hair, and Orihime found her fascinated by the soft, dark locks. Ulquiorra stood still and watched her, secretly reveling in the feeling of her hand on his face and now in his hair. Something tugged at his chest, where his hollow hole was. Why and how was the woman making him feel this way? What was this feeling?

"Why must you insist on touching me, woman?" Orihime heard his voice, but didn't pull away. Her hand remained on the side of her face as her gray- silver eyes flickered to his.

"You know," Orihime said, ignoring Ulquiorra's question, "I think that in a different life… We could have been really close friends, Ulquiorra." Said Arrancar brushed her hand away.

"You speak nonsense, woman. I would never be friends with such trash." Orihime smiled sadly.

"If you say so, Ulquiorra," she murmured softly before meeting his gaze once again, "But you should know that you don't cover up your feelings as well as you think you do, Ulquiorra. I know you have them. You've been watching out for me for a while, and all the time I was watching you. They aren't big signs, but if I look really closely I can tell when you're mad, annoyed, surprised, and, even though I don't see it as much as I like to, even happy. I can see it, Ulquiorra. You do have a heart, even though you don't physically own one."

Ulquiorra was, to say the least, shocked. The girl's words made him actually think about her nonsense! He had seen her watching him every so often, and any time he felt annoyed she would giggle at him, though at the time Ulquiorra didn't know that it was at him. How could the girl possibly know all of this? Why did he feel so defenseless around her? Orihime watched silently as a flurry of different emotions flitted through Ulquiorra's eyes. A normal human wouldn't have been able to catch them, but after being around him so long Orihime knew Ulquiorra enough to see that it went from surprise, to confusion, to interest, and back to confusion.

Finally Ulquiorra regained his composure and shook his head.

"You do not know what you speak of, woman," he told her, "Emotions are nothing to me, and I certainly don't busy myself with them either. Now go to bed, woman. You need your rest, so enough with this nonsense." Orihime nodded and laid herself on the bed, pulling the covers up to her chin.

"Good night, Ulquiorra," Orihime called to him softly before closing her eyes. Ulquiorra watched her a moment before sitting in the only chair that occupied the room. It was silent while Ulquiorra watched her. Orihime could feel his eyes on her, but instead of feeling uncomfortable, she felt safe and protected. Soon Ulquiorra saw her body relax and her breathing slow down to a nice, comfortable pace. He sat and watched her, and as he did something caught his eye; her hair.

Bright, long, beautiful golden locks lay around her head like a halo, framing her peaceful face. On instinct Ulquiorra reached out and grabbed a lock of her hair, twirling it in his fingers. Is this was she felt when she had been running her hands over his face and hair? He felt the need to know every part of her face, to memorize it. Suddenly Ulquiorra's eyes slipped down to her lips. Something was telling him, no _begging_ him, to place his lips on hers. He had read and heard about kissing, and had even seen it a few times when Grimmjow had his women around, but had never experienced it himself.

For a moment Ulquiorra wondered if the woman had ever experienced it, and a painful tug at his chest made it aware that he hoped not. Ulquiorra shook her head, letting the piece of hair drop from his fingers. What was he thinking? She was nothing more than Aizen's tool, a mere human here to help them in their plans. But why did he feel so attached to the girl? How could he let himself get so close to a human, especially one like her? Ulquiorra let a breath out that was not unlike a sigh.

Suddenly the girl started to mumble in her sleep, and her eyebrows furrowed together. Automatically Ulquiorra knew she was having another nightmare, but paused. He didn't want to wake her up again, but his job was to comfort her… Though at the moment it seemed he was doing this for himself other than his orders. Ulquiorra leaned forward.

"Woman," he spoke quietly, in a very soft, uncharacteristic voice. The woman muttered again. Ulquiorra tried a few more times to talk to her but failed. She was getting more and more agitated, her head tossing and turning. Her body was wrapped tightly in the covers by now, her face red and worried. Finally Ulquiorra did something that no one would ever suspect from him; he leaned forward and pressed his lips to hers. Orihime halted, and Ulquiorra tried to ignore the warmth and softness of her lips as he kept his eyes open to see if she had awakened.

She remained asleep, and Ulquiorra slowly pulled away. He sat back in his chair and watched the woman carefully, but the tossing and turning had stopped and she wore a peaceful expression on her face. Ulquiorra felt his eyelids getting heavy and continued to watch Orihime until he finally fell asleep.

* * *

Orihime awoke feeling better than usual. Last night she had started to have another nightmare, but then it was exchanged for a nice dream with a certain green- eyed Arrancar. She sat up in bed and looked around before jumping at the sight of Ulquiorra still in the chair next to her. When she looked closer, though, she saw that he was sleeping.

He sat slightly slumped in his hair with one hand laying on his stomach and the other hanging off the chair. His head was tilted to the side, and his lips slightly parted.

Orihime was caught off- guard with how beautiful he looked. His face, for once, was peaceful, and he seemed unguarded in his sleep; his façade was gone. She slowly slipped out of the bed, trying to be as quiet as she could as to not wake him up, and walked over to him. Orihime reached a hand out and ran her fingers lightly through his hair. She didn't know why doing this made her so happy, but she found herself smiling as she did it.

Suddenly Ulquiorra's head jerked a bit and Orihime gasped, jumping away. But as she continued to watch, Ulquiorra remained asleep. Carefully she reached out a hand again and ran it through his hair, and again Ulquiorra's head moved a bit as if to get rid of her. Orihime stifled a giggle and reached out to do it again. She stopped, however, when his face caught her attention. To be specific, his lips. She had never kissed anyone before, and she wondered if he had. Her guess was no, but this didn't stop a twinge of jealous from hitting her heart. Orihime swallowed nervously. What was she thinking? He was an enemy! Besides, he would probably kill her if he woke up to find her kissing him.

Despite all of the reasons shouting in her head against it, Orihime found her body moving forward without any permission from her brain. She paused slightly when she was about an inch from him, her eyes scanning his relaxed face and closed eyes. Suddenly she felt horrible. Wasn't this taking advantage of him? He might have a reason for not kissing anyone, or he might have already done it. While this stung her heart, Orihime moved at the last second and place a small, sweet kiss on his cheek.

She pulled away and sighed. What was going on with her? The young girl turned to go back and sit on the bed to wait for him to wake up, but someone had other plans. Her foot caught on the edge of her dress and she fell, unfortunately into Ulquiorra who, since he was already tottering on the edge in his sleep, went crashing down with her. Orihime opened her eyes and froze as they were met with beautiful green ones. It took a moment for her to clear her head and evaluate their position, and once she did it only made things worse,

Orihime sat on her knees in between Ulquiorra's bent legs while his hands were behind him holding him up and hers were by his waist, their faces only inches apart. She blushed a deep scarlet red and immediately opened her mouth to apologize. Ulquiorra stopped her by placing a single finger against her lips.

"Why do you always insist on touching me, woman?" Orihime felt chills go up and down her spine at his voice, and the repeated words of last night, though she wasn't very scared at all.

"I-I'm sorry," she muttered, "I didn't mean to! I was going to sit down to wait for you to wake up and my foot caught on my dress and I fell on you and you fell and I'm so sorry!" Ulquiorra observed her for a moment.

"You talk too much, woman." Orihime's face reddened as she looked away.

"Yes, I know…"

"How did you sleep last night?" Orihime's head snapped up at the unexpected question.

"Huh?" Orihime could swear that if Ulquiorra was willing to show emotion, he would have rolled his eyes at her.

"I did not stay here all night to sleep in a chair, woman," he stated, "I was sent here to assure your comfort. Did you sleep well?" Orihime blushed as she remembered her dream that had replaced the nightmare she had begun having. He was there with her, so close, and suddenly his lips on hers…. Orihime shook these thoughts out of her head.

"G-Good," she responded, "I started to have another bad dream but then… it changed to become a… strange but good dream." Orihime could have sworn she saw Ulquiorra's eyebrow raise about a centimeter.

"And what was this good dream about?" Orihime halted. Was he really interested in what her dream was about? Even so, she couldn't tell him. That would be completely embarrassing! Orihime blushed and shook her head.

"N-Nothing specific," she lied. Ulquiorra stared at her for a moment before speaking.

"You're a terrible liar, woman." Orihime opened her mouth to protest but was silenced again by Ulquiorra putting a finger to her lips.

"I know what you were dreaming about, woman," he told her. Orihime's heart started beating faster and faster she thought it might explode. He could possibly know, could he? She felt her face burning as she tried to get control of herself. The fact that they hadn't moved away from their position wasn't doing anything to help.

"It was about me," Ulquiorra continued. Orihime could have sworn her heart skipped a beat.

"H-How would you know that?" she asked, trying to cover up her nervousness and failing miserably.

"You said my name in your sleep," he told her, "and it was right after I kissed you, so the guess was pretty obvious. Also by how nervous and flushed you are getting at the moment are pretty fair signs." Orihime opened her mouth to protest when she froze. She stared at him wide- eyed.

"After you what?" she breathed. Ulquiorra simply looked at her, but Orihime spotted something in his eyes that looked nervous or anxious.

"Kissed you," he told her nonchalantly, though Orihime's trained ears could pick up the slight difference in his tone that no one else would be able to, "You were having a bad dream and talking to you didn't work, so I kissed you. Is there a problem?" Orihime couldn't believe her ears. He had kissed her while she was sleeping? It had been her first kiss, and she wasn't even conscious!

"Woman?" Ulquiorra prodded. Orihime looked back at him and something changed in her eyes. Something came to her mind and she blushed. Ulquiorra simply watched her in silence until she gathered the courage to speak.

"Will you… do it again?"

"Do what again, woman?" he asked as if he didn't care, but really his hollow hole beat like crazy. Orihime licked her lips and spoke again.

"Will you… kiss me? I haven't had a kiss yet," she said, giving him a shy smile, "other than that, and I figured it was going to be kind of special… If it's alright… Could you do it again? While I'm conscious?" Ulquiorra was stock still.

"You have not kissed anyone, woman?" Orihime blushed and shook her head.

"No… have you?" Ulquiorra paused a moment.

"Not counting you, no." Orihime nodded. It was dead silent as the two met each other's gazes. Orihime felt her heart sputtering like crazy while Ulquiorra's hollow hole was starting to pound and burn. Orihime drew closer to him to where they were only an inch away. When Ulquiorra didn't move from her, Orihime hesitantly placed her hands on the back of his neck, her fingers playing with his black hair. They watched each other for a moment before something seemed to click, and both started moving forward at the same time.

Orihime tilted her head slightly just before her lips collided with his. She almost gasped at the strange feeling, and her eyelids flitted closed. His lips were surprisingly soft and warm, though cooler than her own, and she found herself pressing closer to him. It surprised her when she felt Uquiorra tilt his head to deepen the kiss. Heat sifted throughout her body, burning in a way that was not uncomfortable at all. Gathering her courage, she ran her tongue along his bottom lip and after a moment he parted them to give her access. She searched every crevice and area of his mouth before meeting his own tongue. Ulquiorra easily won the battle, but Orihime couldn't say she was complaining. Eventually they had to break for air and pulled away.

Her face automatically flushed and she turned her eyes to look anywhere but him. Ulquiorra watched the girl trying to avert her gaze and felt something tug up on the corner of his lips. He actually wanted to smile at the girl. Well, there was no backing out now, he supposed; they had both taken each other's 'first kiss', and now he knew he could deny his attachment no longer.

"Stop avoiding me, girl," he ordered. Orihime turned to him in surprise, her face still red. Ulquiorra stood and held out a hand. She stared at it in shock for a moment before taking in and standing. The Arrancar let her hand drop and walked towards the door. Right when he was about to leave, he turned around.

"I will be back later with your food," he told her, "You are not allowed to kiss anyone other than me. Alright, woman?" Orihime tried to hide the large grin on her face and nodded. Ulquiorra nodded once back and left, closing the door behind him.

As he walked towards Aizen's conference room, Grimmjow appeared in front of him, leaning on the wall to his left with a crazy grin on his face. Ulquiorra eyed him for a moment but continued walking.

"So how was your night with the princess, Ulquiorra?" Grimmjow asked innocently, though the Cuatro Espada could tell that he was up to something.

"Uneventful," Ulquiorra responded in his usual monotone voice. Grimmjow smirked.

"And what about the morning? You seem pretty happy, considering it's you." Ulquiorra ignored the Sexta Espada and continued walking. Surprisingly, Grimmjow didn't stop him again, and Ulquiorra could relax to think about a certain woman prisoner. He passed a couple other Arrancar including Loly, Melony, Szayel, and Yammy. He heard Loly gasp and start whispering. Though he was past them already, he could still hear what they were saying.

"Did you see that? I think Ulquiorra was smiling!"

"What?" Yammy's voice cut through, "No way!"

"No, I think she's right! I could have sworn the edge of his mouth went up a little!"

"Maybe he had bad food or something."

"No you idiot, that's not it. I think it has something to do with that Inoue girl he was guarding all night." Ulquiorra blocked out the rest of their voices and continued walking, and only a trained eye could spot the small ghost of a smile on the usually indifferent Espada.


End file.
